Restaurant ranges are available in a variety of sizes and cooktop configurations. Some ranges may have only a single cooking system type, while others may include two or more cooking system types. To satisfy the needs of the market, range manufacturers typically provide a full line of range sizes and cooktop configurations, which increases manufacturing complexity and cost. The most common types of cooking system types include open top burners, manual griddle, thermostatic griddle, step-up rear burner, raised griddle/broiler and charbroiler. As commonly used in the industry, and as used herein, the term “range” includes, without limitation, units having one or more of the foregoing cooking system types.
It would be desirable to provide a versatile method of producing a full line of range units. It would also be desirable to provide range units that are readily modified in the field to provide different cooktop configurations.